Betrayed By The Hero, Loved By The Lord-Chapter 290: Loyalty (1)

Darius watched from a good distance as the palace guards dragged humans out of their homes and loaded them onto the carts he had prepared to take them to their new homes.

Hearing the screams and the smell of blood from those who needed to be hit to get them to behave, Darius wanted to join in the fun, but he couldn’t. He couldn’t get close until the hiding spot of the humans who attacked vampires was found and raided.

"Find any holy weapons and bring them to me!" Darius ordered the guards.

With the last of the holy weapons collected, Darius would claim them as his own and use them against the same families threatening his spot on the throne.

Darius recently realised what he needed to do to remain king forever.

Whoever controlled the holy weapons controlled all vampires.

Once the last of the holy weapons were collected from humans, Darius planned to keep them close at his side along with the ones in the palace. No one from the other families would be so foolish as to step to him when he had the weapons which could kill them.

"This is taking too long," Darius said, no longer amused by the show before him. "Burn their houses down. They’ll come running out."

Darius continued to say, "If you find any witches, capture them and take them to the palace dungeon. By morning, only vampires should be walking around the town."

Darius pushed forward on his horse as the palace guards went further into town. He looked around to see if any of the purebloods came out to enjoy the show.

The promised hunt and feast would start soon, so now was the time for them to arrive and pledge their loyalty to him. So far, no one other than the court was present.

Darius grew annoyed with the purebloods in town. He handed them what they needed, yet they didn’t bother to show up.

What were they afraid of?

Did they not believe they would get to enjoy a feast tonight?

Darius now thought of killing the purebloods who were never loyal to him. This was the perfect time to reset the town completely.

Darius smiled as he thought of showing up at their doors with a holy weapon in his hand, threatening to kill purebloods, and watching them bow before him.

If anyone didn’t fear him before, they would fear him now.

There was one home Darius had in mind to visit tonight to settle his issues with Xavier once and for all, then to place Selene in the palace.

"Send someone to keep an eye on the Blackthorn estate," Darius ordered a guard. "If you see any movement there, push all the palace guards there."

"Yes, your highness!"

Darius wouldn’t allow anyone to get in his way tonight. His plans were set up too perfectly, so nothing would go wrong. All that he was missing was his children witnessing their father change the town.

Fortunately, they would be lucky to read about it in books years from now.

Away from where Darius stood, overseeing his plans, Phillip led the priests toward the town as news of what was happening reached his ears.

While the priests and followers of the church panicked, Phillip smiled since a glorious night was upon them. He was not able to draw all the markings he needed around the town, but there was plenty of power to be given to others when the moment called for it.

Phillip was ready more than anyone to rid the town of vampires and head right to the palace to finish off his plans.

The time was upon the town for a human to lead the kingdom.

Standing right behind Phillip, Andre was concerned about how the night would end.

Since Phillip lent him the power he spoke of, Andre did not feel like himself, and the others did not seem the same. They all laughed and got excited that they were all like Phillip, but Andre felt like he had lost a piece of himself, and it was replaced by something else.

"Father Phillip, should we not send all of our people to the town first and then head to the purebloods’ homes? Many will die if we do not attack all together. Our group is the only one who has holy weapons," Andre said, concerned that Phillips’ plans would fail.

The other groups who went out to pureblood homes were given the holy water that was left, but no holy weapons. Once that water was gone, it was a massacre waiting to happen.

Andre grimaced, touching his head as a pain formed, only to settle when Phillip touched his hand.

"I understand your concerns, but I have thought over my plans carefully. We must keep the purebloods away from the town. Away from the king, so I can get to him. Patience, Andre," Phillip said, moving his hand away. "I know you long to kill vampires, but you must be patient."

Phillip didn’t need anyone questioning his plans and acting out of line now. Especially someone like Andre.

’How is he misbehaving?’ Phillip wondered, puzzled by Andre’s behaviour.

Wasn’t he to have control of them like the God said?

They were to pledge their loyalty to him, so in Phillip’s mind, it meant he wouldn’t have to listen to their doubts again, yet here it was happening again.

He had given them shelter, power, and now he would win a war for them, yet it was never enough to make them stop questioning his plans.

"Don’t question me," Phillip said in a warning tone.

While he had heavily relied on Andre in the past, no one was safe tonight.

"I am sorry," Andre apologised, slowing down so he wouldn’t walk so close to Phillip.

Andre looked down at his hand, where the mark Phillip had previously made was no longer present. When he woke up, it was gone, and no one else had questioned how the mark easily left them.

Not even Cassandra had questioned the mark, though she was the one who was most ready to run back then. Now she followed Phillip’s orders and headed to the Blackthorn estate with another group.

’What happened to us?’ Andre wondered. What had Phillip done to them?

Andre reached for the dagger, which was one of the few remaining holy weapons left in the church. For a moment, it crossed his mind to point it at Phillip and question him, but for some reason, Andre didn’t have the strength to do so.

It was strange. Andre wondered if it was his old blind loyalty to Phillip which made it hard to pull out the dagger. Or, did he truly lose control of his body, and something else was preventing him from harming Phillip?